A Week In The Life
Sunday Times
July 2009
Islam is not only Britain’s fastest growing faith but also the world’s newest and most vibrant commercial market. Globally the Moslem spend is worth trillions.
It is something that excites Sarah Joseph, founder, chief executive and editor of emel - Britain’s only glossy lifestyle magazine for Moslems.
Joseph, 38, who converted to Islam aged 16, has plans for other projects to take advantage of this growing market, but won’t yet reveal them. “It’s a market with enormous potential – enormous. Consider the demographics. Most British Moslems are under 35. ”
Joseph is usually at her desk in Swiss Cottage as most Londoners struggle to work. She works long hours at the monthly magazine, but keeps weekends free for time with her husband, a human-rights lawyer, and three children.
Emel was launched in 2003 with start-up funding of just £20,000. “Someone who interviewed me guessed our seed capital was £3m - £5m and I collapsed laughing. It’s all been done on a shoestring.”
She has an in-house team of just six, but emel looks rich beyond its means, mixing articles on motoring, cookery, fashion and travel alongside features on faith, finance and politics – all infused with an Islamic perspective.
The readership, far bigger than its circulation of 20,000, is primarily from the professional class. It is widely read by opinion formers and decision makers.
Emel is the Arabic word for hope but also represents, phonetically, Moslem Lifestyle. It was Joseph’s first venture into journalism after editing a student magazine at King’s College in London where she studied theology.
Her family DNA has helped her success. Her background encouraged her to believe in achievement.
Her mother ran a top London modelling agency, but the fashion trade held no allure for Joseph. “Good God no – I was already profoundly religious and political at the age of eight. I was all fashioned-out by then. I was the sort of child who’d go into a supermarket and ask why they were selling South African apples.”
Her religious background was eclectic. Her grandparents were in the Salvation Army and her mother a Roman Catholic. “God has always been there in my life. But losing my Catholic faith was a devastating moment. But Islam began to offer me the answers. It is a simple articulation of faith in God.”
After university she became a successful spokesperson for her newfound faith. After the 9/11 attacks in 2001 she and her husband spent a year giving talks to counter negative images of Islam.
The magazine continues that mission by other means. In 2003 she says she saw a need for a publication that went beyond politics and religion. A year later she was awarded an OBE: “for services to interfaith dialogue.”
Despite the recession, emel is thriving. “Downturns are good for new markets,” says Joseph, “and the Moslem market is the next big thing.”
Friday, August 07, 2009
A week in the life - Victoria Barnsley
A Week In The Life
Sunday Times
JULY 2009
The book business is facing its great revolution since the invention of printing, but Victoria Barnsley, CEO of HarperCollins, says it’s an exhilarating time.
“I predict that, within ten years, fifty per cent of all books will be read electronically. We’re at the black and white TV equivalent now, but once the technology is perfected everything will change.”
Barnsley, 56, oversees the publisher globally – bar North America - from its Hammersmith HQ. This year has brought both personal achievements and professional challenges.
Books sales are down, the collapse of Woolworths severely disrupted distribution to supermarkets and job losses have slimmed the workforce to just over 1,000.
But Barnsley marked 28 years in the business and 25 years since founding the publishing house 4th Estate, whose sale to HarperCollins made her rich and propelled her towards her present position. She was also awarded an OBE for services to publishing.
It’s the digital future that demands her attention. “This move to digital does occupy an enormous amount of my time and we take it incredibly seriously. It is throwing up completely new business models. Will we go on charging for individual content, or will readers subscribe to libraries of content or will material be totally free and supported by advertising? The answer is probably a bit of all of these. Things are changing at such speed.”
She says the nature of books will also change. “Consumers now want images, music, video as well as words. It is no longer enough to say to authors you have to produce text. We need things to go with that text. Our business is not just about words, but content in all its guises. There are not many authors engaging with this yet.”
“I love change. There are incredible opportunities including a direct dialogue with consumers. This will make for better publishing.
HarperCollins is part of NewsCorp. Barnsley travels to New York at least 10 times a year, and also visits HarperCollins offices in Australia and India. She’d recently been to proprietor Rupert Murdoch’s summer party and was due to dine with him later in the week. Then there is the upcoming authors party where she’ll mingle with hundreds of writers.
“If you work in publishing you have to be a sociable person and much of my time involves meeting people. I see at least two authors a week and meet with agents. In publishing private and business life tend to merge and lot of what I do involves evenings – things like book launches or prize giving events.”
Barnsley ensures weekends are kept for an escape to her country house for family, to garden and read. “I read a lot for work, but on holiday I escape to the classics like Dickens or the Russians as I don’t have to worry about how they connect with my business. I recently re-read Vanity Fair for the first time since university. It was sheer bliss.”
Sunday Times
JULY 2009
The book business is facing its great revolution since the invention of printing, but Victoria Barnsley, CEO of HarperCollins, says it’s an exhilarating time.
“I predict that, within ten years, fifty per cent of all books will be read electronically. We’re at the black and white TV equivalent now, but once the technology is perfected everything will change.”
Barnsley, 56, oversees the publisher globally – bar North America - from its Hammersmith HQ. This year has brought both personal achievements and professional challenges.
Books sales are down, the collapse of Woolworths severely disrupted distribution to supermarkets and job losses have slimmed the workforce to just over 1,000.
But Barnsley marked 28 years in the business and 25 years since founding the publishing house 4th Estate, whose sale to HarperCollins made her rich and propelled her towards her present position. She was also awarded an OBE for services to publishing.
It’s the digital future that demands her attention. “This move to digital does occupy an enormous amount of my time and we take it incredibly seriously. It is throwing up completely new business models. Will we go on charging for individual content, or will readers subscribe to libraries of content or will material be totally free and supported by advertising? The answer is probably a bit of all of these. Things are changing at such speed.”
She says the nature of books will also change. “Consumers now want images, music, video as well as words. It is no longer enough to say to authors you have to produce text. We need things to go with that text. Our business is not just about words, but content in all its guises. There are not many authors engaging with this yet.”
“I love change. There are incredible opportunities including a direct dialogue with consumers. This will make for better publishing.
HarperCollins is part of NewsCorp. Barnsley travels to New York at least 10 times a year, and also visits HarperCollins offices in Australia and India. She’d recently been to proprietor Rupert Murdoch’s summer party and was due to dine with him later in the week. Then there is the upcoming authors party where she’ll mingle with hundreds of writers.
“If you work in publishing you have to be a sociable person and much of my time involves meeting people. I see at least two authors a week and meet with agents. In publishing private and business life tend to merge and lot of what I do involves evenings – things like book launches or prize giving events.”
Barnsley ensures weekends are kept for an escape to her country house for family, to garden and read. “I read a lot for work, but on holiday I escape to the classics like Dickens or the Russians as I don’t have to worry about how they connect with my business. I recently re-read Vanity Fair for the first time since university. It was sheer bliss.”
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Favourite website
There are a million websites out there. However some are especially useful. This is my favourite – and my homepage on all my computers. Check it out.
Http://www.aldaily.com
Http://www.aldaily.com
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
